Sound Bites: Nov 19, 2016

It doesn’t help to be sober sometimes, does it? That said, I have another sound bite for you, if you even care anymore. Hit the lights!

Bokura no Kiseki, Ah My Goddess!: Sorezore no Tsubasa ED 1

Like many a song I’ve listened to, I haven’t actually seen the show that it came from. This song served as the opening for Ah My Goddess!, a name which helped me make the decision not to watch the show. This song on the other hand was great. I would say that there is nothing really spectacular about it, to be frank, but the sheer simplicity of the constant major chord theme just serves the hide something that I feel really defines this song as being great. Listening to the violin play its tune around the typical guitar and basic drum beat was like watching the wind flow down a grassy hill on a summer’s day with a blue sky. It feels like that violinist was just having fun playing the music and it wasn’t just take #102 in the studio late at night. That is a magic which caught my attention and made me listen to this song again and again. Nice tune.

Cloud Age Symphony, Last Exile OP

Was not expecting bagpipes. More importantly, was not expecting the synth fog after the bagpipes. This song was definitely a weird morsel at first, and from what I remember, I was not immediately a fan (it was quite a while ago). That said, I have since changed my tune (see what I did there?). I quite enjoy this song now and it’s strange half-minor, half-major melodic chorus is rather interesting. The last repeating section of the chorus (“E-i-en wo… “) is backed by a chord that is not… correct, is how I would put it. The initial note of the first part of the chorus is the first note, and the last part of the chorus contains the perfect 4th and major 6th intervals above the first note. This is not your typical chord. Usually, a tri-note chord contains the first note and the major third and perfect fifth intervals above that note. What makes it interesting is that the chord that would have existed above the initial note would have been minor, but by adding a few semitones, you create a major sounding chord. It’s a fun musical theory practice all told.

1/2, Rurouni Kenshin OP 2

I really love this show and I really love this song, but I don’t really get that last part. By all accounts, there is probably a good deal of associative love there, since this song reminds me greatly of the best part of the show, the Kyoto arc, when Kenshin faces his successor to the darkness, Shishio Makoto, in the city where many of his darkest memories about the Meiji Restoration lie, Kyoto.

This song does not really give the impression that things are going down a dark and moody path though. It’s cheery and upbeat and really gets your head a’ noddin’ and your toes a’ tappin. It also helps that, like most anime, this arc does exhibit a lot of that most popular of anime tropes, “hard work and friendship”. I wish I had some of that…

Well, that’s all from me for now. As usual, thanks for reading and have a great day!